The rest of the break
passed by swiftly. On Christmas, Charles got Aries an Overlook Orb –
a marble-sized milky white stone with a permanent Notice-Me-Not charm
that could be placed on anything so that people wouldn't pay
attention to it – and a small pouch of catnip, for which Aries
smacked him. The brunet reciprocated with a handmade leather runic
band, with Eihwaz and Algiz for protection and Wunjo for fellowship.
They both got the same gift from Severus: a vile of Dagr's Light,
which allowed the drinker to see everything as if it were daytime,
even on the darkest of nights.

Other than that, the
last week of the break was spent writing up large amounts of
homework. Aries wished he had Remus there while he was doing his
Ancient Runes, but managed to do a fairly passable job on his own.
Charles finished his homework in record time, then pestered Aries
into several games of chess, all of which the redhead won. Aries
laughed at the thought of Ron and Malfoy now having two things
in common – hair and chess.

Then came that late
evening when the carriages pulled up and all the rest of the school
piled out and into the Great Hall. The marauders shared a
compartment with Lily and greeted Charles – who sat away from
Aries, as per usual – warmly. Aries watched as Severus strode with
his typical forbidding grace to the Slytherin table. He smiled and
waved at his friend, who shot him a shaky half smile back. The
Gryffindor raised one eyebrow to indicate his concern – Severus
looked somewhat disturbed – but the other boy had already started
serving himself, all his attention on the platters of food.

The next chance Aries
got to actually talk to Sev was during their potions class that
Monday. He could see that the Slytherin was trying to avoid him, but
Aries made sure that he got to his friend's side before he could
try and get a different partner.

"Hello, Aries,"
Sev greeted him stiffly.

"Hi, Sev," Aries
answered brightly. "How was your break?"

Severus snorted
lightly and concentrated on the dragon tongue he was slicing,
attempting to ignore the question. Aries was not deterred.

"Did you get any
neat presents?" he asked. "What did Charles get you? He refused
to tell me."

"Perhaps he felt it
was none of your business," Sev suggested acidly.

Aries shrugged.
"Maybe, you never know with Charles." There was a thick moment
of silence before he decided to take the plunge. "So, how did
things go with your brother?"

Severus jerked and
slammed his knife on the table. "I do believe I was mistaken in
the thought that you were part Slytherin, as your obvious obtuseness
is purely Gryffindor," he sneered coldly. :Let me say this plainly
so that you do not misunderstand me, Hesuchazo: I. Do. Not. Wish. To.
Speak. Of. It. Understand?"

"Oh yes, of course,"
Aries responded pleasantly. "Why didn't you say so? Are the
walnuts supposed to be sliced or left whole? I can't remember."

The Slytherin sighed
deeply, as if expelling something foul, or admitting defeat, and said
weakly, "Sliced."

To any onlookers, it
would seem as if Aries had let the matter drop entirely, without
giving it another thought. However, the topic of his friend's
holiday was still very much on the Gryffindor's mind. It was
worrisome that Sev had come back so tense. It was obvious that the
most tender subject was his bother; Aries could only hope things
hadn't gone too badly in that respect. What if he'd been
wrong about Aurelius and instead of being like Faramir, he was like
Dudley? What if the 'Auror of the highest degree' enjoyed and
reveled in the extra praise and attention from his father, rubbing
Severus' lack in his face at every chance? Why, if Sev's brother
had done that, he was going to be hearing a thing or two from Aries
Hesuchazo. He'd slug him right in the face if he'd said anything
to hur–

Aries looked up,
shocked. They were only halfway done! There was no way they could
pass if she graded it now! But Severus just nodded and started
pulling him by his uninjured hand into the hall.

"Sev," Aries
protested, "our grade…"

"Is nothing someone
who very nearly cut their own hand off should be worrying about,"
Severus snapped. "For your information, one less than perfect
potion score won't ruin my life or yours, especially because this
is our final year at Hogwarts and it is the NEWT scores that really
matter."

Aries smiles softly as
he let himself be pulled through the halls. It felt rather nice to
have someone drag him to the hospital wing again. Hermione had done
it before, but she wasn't as good as Sev at finding things wrong
with him.

In the hospital wing,
Madam Pomfrey bustled around tutting and muttering to herself about
the idiocy of having dangerous things like knives around. Aries
didn't doubt that, if Madam Pomfrey had her way, the world would be
nothing but padded walls and safety harnesses.

"What on Earth had
you do distracted you'd cut yourself?" Sev demanded once they
were in the hallway and alone again. "You're usually so
careful."

Aries shrugged
bashfully, feeling rather foolish now, but decided it wouldn't do
any more harm to just tell Sev the truth.

"I was worrying
about you," he admitted. "I wondered if maybe your brother had
been mean and started plotting ways to hurt him if that were so."

Sev stopped and turned
to him, looking at Aries as though he'd grown another head.

"You were so busy
planning revenge for an imagined offense on an Auror that you
failed to notice you were dangerously close to permanently mutilating
yourself?" the Slytherin scoffed. "You really are a Gryffindor,
Aries."

"Hey!" Aries
protested, laughing. "You're the one who abandoned a potion to
take me to the hospital wing."

He and Sev both
chuckled, but Sev seemed rather strained at the end. He took hold of
Aries' sleeve and directed him into a little-used side hallway.

"I suppose I owe you
an explanation," he said, voice low. Aries started to protest, but
Sev held up a hand to stop him. "When I got home, it was just how
you had predicted. I spoke to my brother and he seemed so relieved
that I didn't…resent him. We spent a good deal of time together
and he helped me do my holiday coursework. But…"

"But?" Aries
prompted when Sev seemed about to reconsider saying anything. His
friend closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

"You have to promise
me, swear on your life, that you won't tell another soul what I'm
about to tell you," Sev demanded. "No writing it down, no
speaking of it, don't even hint."

"Alright," Aries
agreed solemnly. "I swear that by no action or inaction of mine
will another soul, living or dead, learn what you are about to tell
me."

Sev nodded, looking
around to make sure no one else could hear. "Just three days
before the end of break, I was helping Aurelius pack and his sleeve
rode up a few inches on his left arm and…I saw…the dark mark."

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

A/N: Okay, don't
kill me. I know it's short, but there is a reason for that. With
the arrival of HBP I thought for sure this would have to be AU now,
when I tried so hard to keep it within canon. Then I realized that,
with just a few changes, I could actually work this with HBP. Sort
of. So, if you don't mind, I'm going to take a week or two to
alter what I have here to continue from HBP. Judging by the number
of people who've reviewed in the last four months bugging me to
update, I'd probably be lynched if I didn't get something new up
along with this announcement, but this is all I could bring myself to
do in the old, non-HBP compatible plot. Please forgive!

PANTZ - Emerson

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